Feb 5 Data for streets

Sidewalk Labs, the city innovation unit of Alphabet, has launched Coord. The cloud-based platform is being marketed as the definitive source for street data, taking in curbs (loading, bus stops), tollways (route costs) and parking (location, rules).

What is this about?

“Streets are complicated. Using them doesn't have to be,” says Coord, which is offering mobility outfits access to APIs to help them help their customers.

“Coord can help a ride-hail service reduce curbside congestion by enabling it to locate a legal pick-up or drop-off zone,” says Stephen Smyth, CEO of Coord. “It can help a navigation app feature trip options that users can book in-app, including a nearby bike-share dock.”

He adds that, in the future, “Coord can power fleets of self-driving vehicles that adjust their routes and prices in real time, dynamic curbs that eliminate double-parking and make deliveries easy, and tools we can’t even imagine yet that help people find, book, and pay for trips.”